GDOT Stretches Road Dollars…Into Economic Development Win

Governor Nathan Deal is expected to announce that Australian firm EdenCrete Industries will be locating it’s US manufacturing headquarters in Augusta Georgia. The plant is expected to create 230 jobs initially, with expansion plans for additional growth opportunities in place.

EdenCrete is an additive for concrete that was recently approved for use in GDOT maintenance projects, resulting in EdenCrete’s first US order on April 1st. GDOT’s test indicates that the EdenCrete, when added to a traditional concrete mix allows for a thinner replacement slab with no replacement re-bar – allowing for a cost savings of about 40% with similar life span of the replacement concrete.

The result is that significantly fewer materials will be used in upcoming maintenance projects in freeway resurfacing and other projects that use a concrete (i.e, not asphalt) surface in paving. As our regular readers are aware, HB 170 has provided almost $1 Billion per year in additional funding for GDOT but much of that money will be used for catching up a maintenance backlog in road and bridge repair. EdenCrete’s role will be to make sure those dollars go even farther, freeing up additional money to either do more maintenance projects faster, or re-allocating additional money toward new projects.

A further benefit is that the company will add 230 people to the taxpaying rolls of Georgia. While some critics have downplayed the economic benefits of additional transportation infrastructure spending, these projects are typically performed using the labor of Georgians and materials are often sourced close to the point of use. As such, EdenCrete is just one example of how transportation tax dollars are reinvested back into Georgia and Georgians.